First Win of the Season for FC Dallas
Dallas easily dispatches of the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy, 3-1. But was it that easy?
On Saturday night in front of a restless but boisterous crowd, FC Dallas took care of their Western Conference foes 3-1 behind a goal from Alan Velasco and brace from Jesus Ferreira.
Without a doubt, this was a performance of contrasts. In the first half, despite a few promising opportunities (shades of last week’s performance against Minnesota United FC), Dallas found themselves behind off of a scrappy deflected goal that seemed to bounce off of first-choice goalkeeper Maarten Paes. With a lot of disappointment in the air and rumbling from the crowd, things looked bleak for the home team.
And then, well, Paul Arriola and Alan Velasco produced something out of nothing.
It was beautiful, wasn’t it? The first goal of the 2023 season goes to the young phenom who continues to make strides.
Then whatever Nico Estevez said in halftime, FC Dallas came out and just put on a master class of attacking football. They were unlucky not to score more, but in the end, Jesus Ferreira slotted in two more goals to get his season going and show that he has the potential to be a Golden Boot contender. This was beautiful soccer.
During the postgame presser, I asked Nico about what the team should carry forward from this game after the disappointment against Minnesota.
“We had 11 shots. Against Minnesota we had 11 shots. The difference is we had 4 shots on target and 3 goals. Against Minnesota, we had 1 shot on target and 0 goals. Sometimes that is soccer,” he said. “We didn’t deserve to lose against Minnesota. It’s just about refocusing and the reality of this league - one game at a time.”
You could tell he was pleased about the performance and the rebound, even if he wasn’t going out of his way to be too harsh on his guys who put in a tough shift in the opening match of the season. Sometimes, soccer is cruel, and the balls simply go wild. But at least for tonight, they hit true.
Nico made this point - “Last year, we had less points at this time.”
In other words, this team is still building. Look for more to come.
What a win. 2023 is under way. Dallas til we die!